Camps Bay Neighbourhood - Up To Date

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Posted by Sarah Meder

Sunday, 26th September 2010 at 12:00am | Under News.

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Heritage Cameos

Overlooking the bay opposite Camps Bay High School are two cannons. These were part of the fortifications built by the French in the 1780’s.

The battery subsequently disappeared, probably as a result of the building of Victoria Road during 1887. There were originally four guns. Two were unearthed in 1911 and

removed to the garden of Linda Vista in Van Kamp Street.

The two larger cannon were only rediscovered in 1962 by pure chance, after a bulldozer struck something heavy and massive – the guns and the remains of old buildings.

They were cleaned and mounted again on the original site with a plaque reading

Unearthed here in 1962, these guns were once part of the Camps Bay Battery erected on this site in 1782 against the threat of British invation.

Toll House

After 1887 and until around 1900 vehicles from Sea Point and from the Round House had to pay at a toll house erected where Victoria Road and Lower Kloof Road meet. Unfortunately, there is nothing left to be seen.

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Comments

Michael Smorenburg posted a comment on Wednesday, 27th October 2010 at 07:44am

Poor state of repair - Heck, those old cannons are looking very shabby. Down Memory Lane: They occupy a very fond place in my memory: My maternal grandmother who lived with us used to take a walk every morning (from Clifton); alternately to Sea Point library (then on Queens road) one morning, and to Camps Bay library the next day. As a little ankle-biter of 4 or 5 years old I'd generally go along - and the highlight of that walk was to 'ride' on the cannons. My old gran would always be diverted from her destination so that I could straddle the cannons and imagine blasting some sailing frigate out in the bay [it always worried me that the guns weren't orientated quite right for this imagined sea battle. One threatens only bathers in the surf line and the other concentrated way too much on the horizon for my liking. Try as I might back then, they resisted my every effort to shunt them more seaward]. I'm rather sad to see that any current pikkie who straddled those sorry forlorn hunks these days would come away with a nasty rust-induced rash. But in these politically correct days, the prospect of youngsters being encouraged to sink armadas is probably a no go anyhow. It's a shame.